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Poor Reception

I previously had Sirius radio, but my new car only came with XM. The reception seems quite poor. There is one part of my commute which heads due east with a mountain to the south. I lose reception the entire way until I clear the mountain(Approx 20 seconds), plus it seems every bridge I travel under the signal drops out for a split second. This is very annoying. I never lost the signal in Sirius around the mountains and it was much more robust going under bridges.

Is this right? I mean this is very bad. How can they expect me to pay for such junk quality? And what about when spring comes and the leaves come out? Will I have a signal at all!?

I think there is a sirius tuner for my vehicle, which I would have to buy and install myself. This seems like the way to go.

I have never had the opportunity to compare the two companies service, I only have XM. I live in a metro area and the transition from downtown(repeaters)to the rural areas is always smooth, no dropouts. Since having XM I have made a cross country trip and enjoyed it the entire time. If you radio is original equipment, it might be difficult to switch over as the car manufacturers usually produce an OE radio depending on their agreement with XM/Sirius. Good luck.

I think being in the mountainous and Tall-Treed northeast is part of the problem. Sirius sats have a higher look angle than XM which clears most obstacles. I wait and see, I have 3 free months to decide.

I have had both services recently... and my choice is XM... by a long shot... first and foremost, for content... to me, Sirius is much more 'talk' oriented... XM is for music... although, I HATE the commercials... I really hope they ditch the deal with Clear Channel...

Anyway... on to reception...

XM is excellent around here.. and Sirius is terrible... and I think alot of it has to do with terriestrial repeaters... XM has several around here and it really makes a difference...

Let me give you an example... There is an interstate overpass that I have to go under on my way to work everyday... It's only about the width of four lanes... so going 55 mph, I'm only under it for 5 seconds or so... With XM, I can STOP directly under the overpass (red light on one side of it) and it does not cut out... With Sirius, it would cut out when I go under it at full speed...

I have both XM and Sirius at home, antennas are mounted outside, no reception issues, ever. I also have both in my SUV, very rarely do I ever get a drop out on either service. There is one spot were both drop for a brief second in the summer on my way to work do to a large tree hanging over the S-curves in the road. Outages are not a problem with either service for me.

Have you ever had your radio refreshed? I know mine will start to crap out about every 6 months and a refresh fixes it. You need to go to their website and signup and then have it refreshed. In your account there will be a refresh your radio tab click it and follow instructions.

Going down the Palisades Parkway in Rockland County NY is the main problem area. High trees and mountains block the Satellites and since it is parkland there are no repeaters around. It can go out for 10 seconds at a time.

This is a brand new radio and antenna so I may have to just get used to it.